Railroad-gate



(No Model.)

O. H. P. CORNELL.

RAILROAD GATE. No. 306,222. I PatentedOct. 7, 18814.

INVBNTGE ATTORNEY UNITE Snares PATENT @rricn.

OLIVER H. P. GURNELL, OF ALBANY, NEYV YORK.

RAILRUAD GATE.

BPECIPIGATIDN forming part of Letters Patent'No. 306,222, datedOctober7, 1884:.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, OLIVER H. P. 00R- NELL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Gates andMechanism for Operating the Same; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to the class of railroadgates operated by thelocomotive or cars; and it consists of apparatus for releasing andreplacing gate-operating weights by the engagement of the locomotive orcar wheels with a track-lever connected with the weight sustaining andreleasing mechanism,-as hereinafter described, The common difficultywith railroad-gates operated by the cars or locomotive is that the highspeed imparted to the gate and gateoperating mechanism tends to quicklyinjure and destroy them and render the gate unreliable or useless. Toavoid these difficulties, I employ weights to operate the gate, and Iprovide mechanism for replacing the weights by power transmitted fromthe passing locomotive or cars.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved gate operating system withparts broken out to bring the apparatus within the compass of thedrawings. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the weight and weight-frametaken 011 line 00 a: in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of apparatus forholding the track-lever out of the path of the locomotive and carwheels.

Like parts are designated by the same letters of reference in thediiferentfignres of the drawings.

At one or both sides of the railroad-track A, and at the side of thehighway B to be closed, is placed a gate, O, consisting of acounterbalanced arm, D, placed loosely on the shaft E, journaled in thepost F. The arm D is capable of being placed in either a vertical orhorizontal position, andhas sufficientlength to reach wholly or partlyacross the highway.

To the shaft E is fixed a sheave, G, and in the post F, under the sheaveG, and below the surface of the ground, is journaled a sheave, E, havingtwo peripheral grooves.

On opposite sides of the gate, and at a suitable distance therefrom, areplaced similar but oppositely-arranged systems of mechanism, which, forthe sake of clearncss, I shall designate as system 1 and system 2, andas the corresponding parts of the two systems are alike I shall refer tothem by the same letters of reference.

Below the railroad-bed is placed an oblong frame, I, on a fixed pivot,J, on which it is capable of making a quarter of a revolution in avertical plane parallel with the railroadtrack. The sides of the frame Iare T-shaped in cross-section, with the double flange of the Tinnermost, forming a bearing-surface for the flanged wheels K to rollon. The pivotJ is on the upper side of the frame I near one end. An arm,L, projects from the pivot end of the frame I, and is connected with thelonger arm of a lever, M, by a link, N. The lever M has a fixed fulcrum,a, and its shorter arm is pivoted to a vertical bar, 0, extending upwardat the side of the rail 1) of the track A. A curved track-lever, P, ispivoted to the rail 1) at c, with its free end resting on or jointed tothe upper end of the bar 0. The pivoted end of the tracklever P is on alevel with the top of the rail 1), but the free end 0 in its normalposition is a short distance higher. The top surface of the track-lever1? forms a ver tical curve, which may be either regular or compound, andits upper surface at the pivotpoint is tangent to the horizontal planeof the top of the rail. The car-wheel runs along the curved uppersurface of the lever P and depresses the said lever gradually withoutgiving a sudden shock to thelever or mechanism connected therewith.slotted to receive two bolts, d, which pass through the slots into therails, and support two spiral springs, f, which press the tracklever 1?against the rail 1). The free end 6 of the track-lever P is beveled, sothat a carwheel striking against the beveled end of the track-lever willpush it away from the rail and pass it without depressing it. Thetrack-levers of systems 1 and 2 both lie in the same direction forreasons that will be made clear when the operation of the apparatus isdescribed. The free ends of the frames I are connected by a wire rope,Q1, which runs over The track-lever I is sheaves g, and is of suchlength as to hold one frame in a raised position, while the other isdown, and vice versa. The flanged wheels K K turn on a shaft, 1%,extending through eyes formed in the ends of the yoke S, and throughdisk-weights T, which may be readily applied or removed, if desired, toincrease or diminish the speed of Closing or opening the gates. The yokeS straddles the frame I and parts attached thereto, and is jointed to alever-arm, U,, secured to a shaft, V. A sector-lever, IV, in system 1has a grooved periphery for receiving the wire rope X, which is securedto the said sector-lever at 71, and extends to and around thedoubly-grooved sheave H, thence upward around the sheave G on the shaftE, thence downward and around the sheave H in its second groove, thenceto the sector-lever WV of system 2.

Upon the shaft E is placed the counterbalanced bar D forming the gate. Aspring, i, attached by its inner end to the shaft E, is connected withthe bar D at its outer end, and pushes the s'aid bar forward against apin, j, projecting from the sheave G, so that whenever the sheave G ismade to turn the gate will turn also, except there should be some Iobstruction beneath the gate at the moment of post F is provided with astop, A, for preventing the gate from falling below a horizontalposition or rising past a vertical position.

The gate-bar D, beside being capable of yielding vertically, is made intwo parts and hinged together by a rule-joint, Z, and the two partsareheld in line normally by the springs m m, fastened to one part of thebar D and pressing on the otherpart. The rule-joint is arranged relativeto the track, so that it may open outward or away from the track,allowing a team or animal to escape should the gates shut while theanimal or team is on the track. The track-lever P has considerablelength, and a curved inclination or grade which is slight near thepivotal point and increases toward the free end. This constructioninsures a gradual and easy starting of the gate-operating mechanism, andprevents anything like blows or severe shocks to the mechanism. Aswitch-lever, O, placed near the track, is connected with thetrack-lever by the rod D, which passes loosely through a hole in thetrack-lever P, and has a head, 19, at the inner side of the track-lever.By turning the switch-lever O the track-lever P may be drawn away fromthe track, so that the locomotive and car wheels will not engage thetrack-lever; but when the switch-lever C is in its normal position theoperation of the track-lever is in no manner interfered with, asthe saidtrack-lever is free to move vertically or laterally.

spiral spring, Q, in the cable Q, so that when both track-levers aredepressed the spring will yield, allowing the parts to move withoutstraining the cables or endangering the mechanism. The spring Q hassufficient strength to prevent it from yielding during the normalworking of the gate-operating mechanism. It is obvious that the spring Qmay be placed between either of the track-levers P and the vertical bars0, or in any suitable part of either system; therefore I do not confinemyself to any particular position for the said spring Q.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: A locomotive or car wheelrunning upon the curved track-lever P of system 1 depresses the saidlever, slowly at first and more rapidly thereafter, bringing more orless pressure to bear upon the vertical bar 0, pushing down the shorterarm of the lever M, raising the longer arm thereof, and through theconnection of the said lever M with the arm L raises the said arm,moving the free end of the frame I downward into a nearly verticalposition. This operation releases the weights T, which before wereretained at the end of the slot in the frame I near the pivot J.Simultaneously wit-l1 the depression of the frame I of system 1 the freeend of frame I of system 2is raised by virtue of its connec tion withframe I of system 1 by the wire rope Q. This raises the weights T ofsystem 2 at the same moment the weights T of system 1 are released, sothat they are free to fall of their own gravity, while the weights T ofsystem 2 are replaced at the end of the slot in the frameI, all as shownin dotted lines. The falling of the weights T pulls down the lever U,turning the sector-lever W, and drawing the .wire rope- X forward towardsystem 1. This movement of the rope X turns the sheaves H and G andmoves the gate-arm D from a vertical to a horizontal position, as shownin dotted lines, and also draws the weights T of system 2 to the end ofthe slot near the pivot J in frame I. The locomotive, after passing thehighway B, runs upon the track-lever P of system 2, which hasbeenelevated by the movement of the frame I. The said tracklever P is nowdepressed, and through the medium of the bar 0, lever M, and link Nthrows the frame I downward into the position shown in full lines in thedrawings, at the same time raising frame I of system l by means of therope Q. The weights T of system 2 now fall, drawing down the lever U,

' turning the sector-lever W, and drawing the wire rope X toward system2, turning the sheaves H G, returning the gate-bar D\to the verticalposition, and at the same time replacing the weights T of system 1 atthe end of the slot in frame I near the pivot J. The raising of theframe I of system 1 replaces the track-lever]? in its inclined position,ready to be acted upon by the next passing locomotive or car.

I do not limit or confine myself to the exact construction andcombination of parts herein shown and described, as these may be variedwithout departing from my invention. In some instances I may place theentire mechanism above the level of the ground instead of beneath theground. In such case the connections and levers would necessarilyrequire some modificationto meet the exigencies ofthe case; AgaimI mayin some instances connect the track-lever Iby means of a bar directlywith theframe I, dispensing with the lever M and link N.

Instead of the curved track-lever P, I may employ a straight track-leverby placing the upper surface of its pivoted end below the level of therail, so that the car-wheel will not touch the lever until after it haspassed the pivot. \Vith this arrangement, the car-wheel, after contactwith the straight track-lever will continue to depress it until itpasses off at the free end.

The springs f may be supported by brackets attached to the rail andextending around the track-lever. In this case the track-lever would beimperforatc.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination,.with a railroad-gate,of two gate-operating weights and two pivoted and oppositely arrangedweight sustaining and weight-releasing frames, as described, the saidframes beingconnected with pivoted tracklevcrs, and capable of beingmoved by apassing train, so that a train approaching the gate will causeone of the weights to be supported by its frame and the other releasedtoclose the gate, and the train on receding from the gate will reversethe movement of the weight-sustaining and weight-relcasing frames and ofthe and connective devices, in combination with the gate-bar D, asdescribed.

4. In mechanism for operating railroadgat'es, two systems ofoppositely-arranged operating mechanism, each consisting of a tracklever, I, bar. 0, lever M, frame I, and weights T, the two systems beingconnected with each other and with the gate by means of wire ropes orother connective medium.

5. In mechanism for operating railroadgatcs, the frame I, wheels K, andweights T, in combination.

.6. The combination of the frame I, bar 0, and intermediate connections,the traclelever P, and switch-lever G, as specified.

7 The spring-pressed track-lever P, having the beveled end 6, incombination with the frame I and intermediate connections, as described.

S. The combination of the spring-acted rulejoint Z with the gate-bar D,as specified, whereby the free end of the said bar is permitted to movelaterally, for the purpose named.

9. In'gate-operating mechanism, the combination of the frame I,track-lever P, and illtermediate parts, the wheels K, shaft R, weightsT, yoke S, and wire-rope connections.

10. The combination, with the gate-bar D and weights T, of the lever-armU, section-arm IV, wire rope X, and sheaves II G.

11. The combination, with systems 1 and 2 of the gate-operatingmechanism, of a spring interposed between the two systems, as hereindescribed.

OLIVER H. P. CORNELL. IVi tn ess es:

CHAS. L. CoHN, GEO. M. HOPKINS.

